Apocalypse Living: In a Lagoon

I live in Melbourne, Florida, a smallish community which has become more of a small town for Orlando. We are located right on the shores of the Indian River, which is actually the worlds largest lagoon.

Catfish, shrimp, shark, turtles, crabs, the river is abound with edible life! So I figure, better to take my chances ON the water then with the rest of the desperate, hungry, and ignorant masses on the shore. So, lets say I get a some pallets together, collect a whole bunch of milk jugs, and net the milk jugs under the wood to keep me afloat.

I want to know what your ideas on how I might not only survive, but flourish, on the water.

Rion

So you want to be the Apocalyptic Huck Finn of the Indian River? You’ll have your fishin’ pole with a radioactive carp on the line while chewin’ on a ol’ straw shoot. Sounds great, but just like Huck, you’ll have southerners on the shores trying to get at you. Only in the apocalypse, they won’t be after your slave friend Jim, they’ll be after your gear and will be wanting to eat your ass. (continued…)

Floating by on your raft sounds like you’ll be safe, but you’ll be a sitting duck. They’ll take aim at you trapped on your raft and once your dead they’ll take your fishing pole and the carp with it.

Now, this lagoon does appear to be very large so if you think you can stay away from crazies you can try it out. It sounds like that lagoon can support you for a while. Shrimp, fish, turtles and crab sounds pretty good to the rest of us who will be licking soup can labels.

The weather will be habitable too, though a damp, hot environment will invite disease, so stay clean and tend to wounds quickly.

You have one big problem though. You have nothing to drink. No matter how much food you have, your body needs freshwater to digest food properly. If you’re dehydrated don’t eat. Furthermore, do not drink seawater. Do not drink urine. Do not drink alcohol. Do not smoke. DO, however, learn how to desalinate your drinking water.

Water purification pumps will not work with saline water, so you’ll need to remove the salt from the water through distillation. I talked about this in a previous article but here is a new way.

First, your raft will need to have a hearth of some kind to light a fire.

Once you have a small fire going, get a metal pot and put a glass cup inside it in the center.

Slowly pour some salt water into the pot until the water reaches halfway up the outside of the cup.

Place the cover to the pot upside down over the pot so the highest point is pointing down over your glass.

Once the water reaches a slow boil. The water vapor will rise up to the cover and collect as water droplets.

Because of the cone shape of the pot cover, the water will travel down into your cup. If the cover is cool, the condensation will be more effective.

It’s a pain in the ass, but you’re the one who wanted to live in a lagoon.

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I don’t think living on water will be advantageous because there are too many things you cannot control or defend against such as weather, or god forbid your raft breaks down somehow. My key to survival would be to diminish these uncontrollable variables as much as possible.

I actually read of a solar distillation system using scrap glass and plastic(I’d post the link, but I’m not sure of the rules about outside linking here) that I could install atop a little shelter I plan on building over my raft(I have a link for that as well.)

The beauty of the raft, I believe, is the mobility independent of any form of fuel. I can build my little shack, hang crab traps and fish traps from the sides, then throw out my line and drop anchor. I could even build a small primitive sail for added power.

There are islands scattered about the lagoon, and though I’m sure others might try to settle there, if I could find a seculded spot I could set up a larger desalination system.

All in all I really appreciate your input. I hadn’t thought about the danger of crazies taking potshots on shore, and the I do realize the necessity of keeping clean. The salt from purified water could help(but man will it sting) with open wounds!

To Kevin I would say living in the water is not that dangerous, many cultures have done it. When bad weather hits, head for shore. Secluded bays unreachable by foot or automobile honeycomb my area. The raft itself, built of scrap floating material and wood is easy enough to rebuild, as are the traps and fishing lines.

Well, depending on your type of raft that is. Would you go with the inflatable raft or a raft made of some other material. I would’nt go with the inflatable types(Easily punctured). That’s what i mean.

As for material, I would use wood pallets for planks, make a base, then either collect sealed milk jugs or plastic drums and net them below the wood. Keeps me afloat. Large enough to build a very small little shelter on top. More of a floating shack then a raft.

If society fell apart this afternoon I’d be willing to bet you’d die. You’ve spent your life learning how to ‘cut and paste’ or how to master E. Honda’s Hundred Handslap in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, but when the world comes crashing down and you’re hungry, you’ll be eating ... Continue reading →